Facts and Feelings about Disease Prevention and Health Promotion - Excessive Alcohol Consumption

During January through June 2003, 19.8 percent of Americans had at least five drinks in one day on at least one occasion in the past year. There was no significant upward or downward trend in excessive drinking from 1997 to 2002. (See Figure 10.18.) Some researchers feel that it is unwise to assume that these statistics accurately reflect rates of problematic drinking in the United States because they believe that many survey respondents deny or misrepresent their alcohol consumption and others who drink too much alcohol are undercounted.

In 2002 among both men and women, younger adults were more likely to drink alcohol excessively. Of all FIGURE 10.13
Age-adjusted prevalence of obesity among adults aged 20 years and over, by sex and race/ethnicity, January–June 2003 eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old respondents, 33.2 percent admitted to excessive drinking; 26.4 percent of those ages twenty-five to forty-four, 14.5 percent of persons ages forty-five to sixty-four, and just 3.8 percent of adults age sixty-five and older admitted to excessive drinking. In every age group, more men than women consumed excessive alcohol. (See Figure 10.19.) Figure 10.20 shows that more white adults (22.8 percent) drank excessively (had five or more drinks in one day at least once in the past year) than African-American (12.1 percent) or Hispanic adults (16.2 percent).